The first time I made this pizza, I told my mom I could cry how much it reminded me of the restaurant. “This is better than the restaurant!” She was right.

The smell of my kitchen when I make pizza brings me straight back to Bridge Street, where my cousins and I spent our growing up years. I’d always say “my uncle’s restaurant,” but it was a family affair without a doubt. We all did our time there over the years–my mom and dad, my Auntie Sandra, my cousins Mike, Paul and Al, my Uncle Greg and yours truly! Oh, and the old man himself, Alfredo, that was my uncle.

I remember days of extra dough, which meant pizza fritte (phonetically “freet” in the dialect)–delicious fried dough balls, jumbled up in a brown bag of sugar. I remember buttering the tops of the loaves of bread, fresh out of the oven. I remember playing hide and seek in the cellar and the dirty ragbag incident. And, of course, the pizza.

When my #1 taster walked in the day I made this and said it smelled like home, I knew I must be onto something special. I certainly couldn’t ask for a greater compliment. So I present to you, pizza dal cuore–pizza from the heart! Straight from my heart, my hometown and my kitchen. Buon appetito!

FOR THE LOVE OF PIZZA: PIZZA DAL CUOREKatty’s Kitchen’s spin on “Grandma Pizza”

The dough
First, the dough, courtesy of my invisible friend the Sicilian Prince. I merely halved his original recipe. His process makes more sense to me than the more popular Cook’s Country version, so I’ll stick with the Sicilian Prince, thanks.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, dissolve the brown sugar in the warm water.

While the water is still warm, add the yeast. Wait about 15 minutes to see the yeast start to activate.

Using the dough hook, add the olive oil and remaining dry ingredients and slowly start to mix. After the dry ingredients are wet, raise the speed and mix until a nice, smooth ball forms, about 15 -20 minutes with a Kitchen Aid mixer. Now you should have a dough ball–coat it with olive oil, place in a large enough bowl to allow the dough to rise and refrigerate at least three hours. Overnight is better, or you can even let it age for a few days.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. If you have a pizza stone, place it on the lowest rack of your oven for later, when it’s pizza-making time. Layer the onions, tomatoes and garlic cloves into a large roasting dish. Toss with olive oil and Kosher salt.

Roast for 15 minutes. Use tongs or a spatula to move everything around, then roast for 15 more minutes. Ladle tomatoes into a colander, pressing down to squeeze out the extra liquid. After 15 minutes have passed, your work should be done. That extra delicious tomato and olive oil liquid you just strained–it’s your treat. Enjoy it like a bowl of soup. Or if you’re feeling generous, share it with someone you love and a nice, crusty bread.

Now it’s time to put the pizza together. See how your oven is conveniently preheated to 450 degrees F? Just leave it there.

Generously coat a stainless steel baking sheet with olive oil. Start spreading out the dough in the pan. I’ll be honest, my goal was to make a circle. Somehow, a heart began to form, so I ran with it. Given my love for good food in general and pizza specifically, it felt like it was meant to be. You can make a rectangle if you wish.

Give the top of the pizza a good splash of olive oil across the top to coat. Evenly place the tomatoes and onions over the dough. Squeeze the roasted garlic. Slice fresh mozzarella and layer over the tomatoes. Tuck in slices of pepperoni as you see fit. Snip fresh basil all over the pie. Crush a bit of rosemary, too. Press two fresh cloves of garlic and distribute as evenly as you can across the top.

If you have a pizza stone, place the baking sheet directly on top of the stone on the lowest rack of the oven. If not, just put the baking sheet in the oven on the lowest rack. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or till your pizza is nice and golden brown. Slice and enjoy!

They call them magic cookie bars, Hello Dolly bars, seven-layer bars. Call them what you like, they’re old-fashioned deliciousness baked up in a pan. Being the small batch kat I am, I like to bake a half portion in an 8″ square. It’s just enough to bring a bit of sweetness to the day without going overboard.

Today, I added Valrhona Dulceys to to the mix. It’s 32% blond chocolate–“creamy and toasty,” so says the bag. Yes, and almost vaguely salty, like fine caramel. You can find them at Whole Foods. Or go nuts as I did and buy a 3 kg bag from Amazon. Hey, go big or go home, right? Life’s short, enjoy the ride. Or at least make it a little sweeter when you can.

I woke up this morning and found a message wishing me a happy anniversary. It’s been four years–162 posts!–of food and tasty beverages! Time flies when you’re having fun.

The past month, I’ve been on a frozen cheese blintz kick. It’s nice ‘n’ easy to throw a blintz in a pan with some butter and oil, then top it with homemade blackberry syrup and a sprinkle of powdered sugar. In fact, it’s so easy to make, I made the syrup today as my blintz was sizzling. Of course, it would be delish on pancakes or waffles, too. Or ice cream. But who eats ice cream for breakfast?

Last weekend, I thought it would be fun to make carrot cake in the morning. So I went to the store and didn’t buy carrots. Nice going, Kat.

After I returned to my senses andthe store, I updated a cake from my mom’s recipe files. So what’s my new spin on a classic? Less sugar (half brown, half granulated, please), a mix of oil and butter, toasted walnuts, coconut, some nutmeg, bourbon-soaked golden raisins (HOO-AHHH!) and a drizzle of bourbon over the cake once it’s out of the oven. To top it off, I whipped up my very own bourbon salted caramel frosting. Sound good to you, amici? Let’s make cake!